Alpha Natural Resources

IEEFA Research

Production Declining by as Much as 40 Million Tons; Prices Failing to Benefit Shareholders or Stimulate New Investment; Anemic Exports; Little or No Gain From Regulatory Relief; Increasingly Dim Employment Prospects

We’re out this morning with our annual outlook for U.S. coal markets, and the picture isn’t pretty. We see the potential for some short-lived strength in the current uptick for coal producers but the title of our assessment sums up the larger view: “Short-Term Gains Will Be Muted by Prevailing Weaknesses in Fundamentals.” You can […]

Trends Will Force Closures and Complicate Efforts by Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Peabody Energy to Work Their Way Out of Bankruptcy

CLEVELAND, Aug. 3, 2016 (IEEFA.org) — The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis today published a report detailing how Powder River Basin coal producers are losing their largest customers as Texas power producers turn increasingly to other sources of energy. The report, “Texas’ Outsize Role in the Decline of the Powder River Basin Coal […]

It’s time for the U.S. to modernize how it manages its publicly owned coal reserves. That’s the essence of comments we’ve filed today with the Department of the Interior as it begins a review of its federal coal-leasing program in the Powder River Basin, a program that has been mismanaged for years at taxpayer expense […]

We distributed a briefing note this week that delves into some of the many pressing difficulties confronting U.S. coal producers. In the note (“Struggling U.S. Coal Companies Face Debt Hurdles, Complications From Reclamation and Pension Obligations, Pressure from Hedge Funds”) we talk about how the cumulative impacts of the industry’s many mounting liabilities—reclamation costs, pension […]

More News and Commentary

Telling Details in a Deal That Transfers Two Wyoming Mines to an Appalachian Company

In the second loss-producing deal of the year for Contura Energy, formerly known as Alpha Natural Resources, Contura is planning to transfer two coal mines in Wyoming to another company in exchange for royalties from future sales and for the new owner assuming reclamation liabilities. The deal is also the first negative-value transaction in the […]

Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune: The coal company that emerged from the ashes of the Alpha Natural Resources bankruptcy is getting out of the Powder River Basin just a little over a year since its formation. Contura Energy announced Monday that it was transferring its Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines to Blackjewel L.L.C., a private company […]

SNL: Limits on coal company self-bonding will be reconsidered by the Trump administration and possibly rescinded or revoked, the U.S. Department of Interior wrote in a recent report. Interior highlighted potential reversals of Obama administration initiatives in a report responding to an executive order calling for a review of actions that potentially burden domestic energy. […]

SNL: A fossil fuel-friendly federal government report “will not save coal,” according to a new note out from Moody’s. While the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent study of the U.S. electricity grid was generally written in a tone favorable to coal, Moody’s said, the report does not change expectations the sector will decline in the long term. Moody’s […]

Taylor Kuykendall in SNL: Despite near-term improvements in the U.S. coal sector, getting investors excited about the industry may still prove a tough sell. “I don’t necessarily think we are ever going to get back to a situation where we’re going to have an investment-grade coal company again,” Chiza Vitta, an analyst with S&P Global Ratings, said […]

Wrangling, and Uncertainty, Over the Paris Agreement on Climate Change

The swamp is becoming quite the quagmire as arguments bubble up among coal, oil, and gas interests about whether the U.S. should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. With the Trump administration in power, the fossil-fuel industry now has the keys to the kingdom. Yet its giants appear confused and in disarray. Whatever […]

New York Times: Glenn Kellow, the coal executive who led Peabody Energy through bankruptcy, just collected an estimated $15 million stock bonus. John Eaves at Arch Coal, another recently bankrupt coal giant, got an award valued at $10 million. The view from the coal pits is far less rosy. An analysis of recent government data […]

Platts: Publicly traded US coal producers aren’t likely to splurge on acquisitions or growth projects in the coming years, and instead should distribute their earnings to shareholders, an equity analyst report said Tuesday. Seaport Global’s Mark Levin said a number of producers, including Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Contura Energy, have emerged from reorganization with […]

Casper Star Tribune: Contura Energy will ditch its collateral bonds in favor of secure insurance to guarantee the cleanup of its Wyoming coal mines after local environmental advocates pushed for stricter accountability. The clash of interests follows a long series of battles during the coal downturn. Coal companies, environmentalists and state and federal regulators frequently […]

SNL: A new bill from Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate aims to reform federal laws that allow the coal sector to self-bond its environmental liabilities. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Penn., joined other colleagues in the House and Senate to introduce the Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act. “As coal companies […]